Splash
by Haruka Kamiya
Summary: Coffee Shop AU of sorts. Ochako and Tsuyu meet at Ochako's part-time job during a busy time. What happens when Ochako decides to initiate friendship?
1. Chapter 1

Notes: First fic in the BNHA fandom. Please be gentle because I am soft. And I have no idea where I'm going with this besides what the rating implies. Enjoy, I hope.

* * *

Tuesday.

Normally not a busy day, but for some reason it was currently the busiest shift of Ochako Uraraka's short life as a barista for the local independent café Runner. The clamor and noise was enough to make anyone scream. Ochako wasn't sure how to handle it all, and considered her colleagues superheroes of their own right.

Just another hour…

"Uraraka! Take care of the next set of customers, please!" her colleague - whose name escaped her at the moment – shouted out.

"Y-yes!" Ochako nodded and slid over to the register. "May I hel—" her greeting was cut off as she acknowledged this customer.

A girl with long teal-black hair, tied down at the bottom in the form of a bow; large black eyes and lush lashes; and the most piercing gaze, although Ochako wasn't sure if the girl's expression was vacant or if she was just studying Ochako intensely. "Kero," she uttered. "I'd like to place my order, please." Her voice was flat and a little scratchy as well. Interesting.

"A-ah, yes! What can I get for you?"

The girl's gaze travelled to behind Ochako: the menu. "I need a green tea iced latte," she said simply. "Large. That is all."

Ochako became flustered as her fingers flurried across the register's screen. "Ah, okay, that'll be 550yen, please!"

"That much?" the girl commented as she handed Ochako a small set of bills. "Well. Can't be helped."

"I'm sorry…" Ochako couldn't help saying.

"It's not your fault." The girl curtly said and made her way to a table to await her order.

A few minutes later, Ochako was relieved of the register, and her colleague asked her to serve the orders that were ready. She grabbed a serving tray and one by one gathered the cups of hot and cold beverages. The first order up was that interesting girl's latte.

Or so Ochako thought.

"This is a cappuccino," the girl deadpanned after one sip.

"Wahh! I'm sorry! I'll go fix it!" Ochako began to flail but instantly recalled she was carrying others' drinks.

"It's fine," the girl continued to drink the apparent cappuccino. "It's not that bad at all." She directed her gaze to Ochako, who bristled at the sudden eye contact. "What's your name?"

"Ah. Ochako. Ochako Uraraka." Ochako stammered.

"Call me Tsuyu."

"O-okay?" Ochako was confused at the informality but then truly remembered she had to serve more drinks and she yelped as she continued her task.

Her shift was over before she knew it. Ochako let out a loud sigh of relief as she punched out and began to gather her belongings.

She looked around the interior of the café, assessing the situation. Huh?

Tsuyu was still there. Staring blankly at the wall, it seemed.

Maybe she needs something?

"Uh, um," Ochako stammered as she approached Tsuyu. "Did you need something else?"

Tsuyu turned to look at her.

Those large eyes…

Tsuyu said simply, "No. Not really."

"Not really?" Ochako tilted her head slightly. She stood up straight. "I'm sorry again about the drink!"

Tsuyu blinked. "I told you it's fine."

"R-right…" Ochako rubbed the back of her head. "Anyway…"

Tsuyu stood up. "Have a good day," and started making her way to the doors.

Ochako was the one to blink this time as she watched her exit.

* * *

The next day was even busier.

Ochako didn't expect to see Tsuyu again. But she did, and she let out a small yelp when Tsuyu was the next in line. "Oh, it's you again!"

"Can I get what I got yesterday?" Tsuyu asked.

"Y-yeah! Iced green tea cappuccino, right?" Ochako clarified even though she remembered the beverage.

Tsuyu nodded, and Ochako hurriedly rang her up.

Tsuyu smiled as she gave Ochako the correct amount of money needed, and made her way to the same table she sat at before.

Ochako felt something in her chest flip. Tsuyu had a cute smile.

Maybe she and I can talk when I clock out?

There was an hour left on Ochako's shift. She wanted to get to know Tsuyu better. There just was something about her that was quite compelling.

Quite suddenly, she was slammed with customers and had to put Tsuyu out of her mind, and soon enough, it was time to clock out.

Ochako made herself a latte to take home with her, grabbed her purse, and walked toward Tsuyu's table, quietly cheering when she saw Tsuyu still sitting there, scrolling on her phone.

"Ah, Tsuyu-san?"

Tsuyu looked up from her phone. "Yes?"

"Can I… can I sit here with you?"

Tsuyu made a pondering pose as she replied, "You want to sit here with me?" and as Ochako nodded, she said, "Sure," with another cute smile. Ochako felt her heart do another small flip.

There was a long silence as the two regarded each other once Ochako sat down opposite Tsuyu.

"So, I've never seen you here before yesterday," Ochako began.

"I actually come here a lot," Tsuyu flatly said. "You're the one I hadn't seen before." The corners of her mouth turned up in a sort of smirk. "Are you new?"

"Actually… well. Yes," Ochako blushed. "I only started last week or so."

"Yappari."

"Is that a bad thing?" Ochako began to feel nervous.

"Nah." Tsuyu said before focusing her gaze directly at Ochako. "It's cute."

"Eh?!" Ochako's blushing intensified. "C-cute?"

"You're cute."

"Ts-Tsuyu-san, you can't just say that!"

"Why not? I speak my mind all the time."

Ochako found she had no answer for that. "Anyway…"

Time passed quickly as the two girls chatted. It turned out they both went to the same school; the same class, even. Ochako was embarrassed that she had never noticed Tsuyu before. A shame, really, because she seemed like a really nice girl.

Ochako suddenly stood up when she noticed the time. "Oh! I should get going!" she yelped. "But!" she grabbed a napkin and pulled a pen from her purse. "Here's my number!"

Tsuyu stared at the napkin. "So I just… text you and you'll add me in there?" she queried.

"Yeah!"

Tsuyu stared at Ochako. "Have a good evening, Ochako-san."

Ochako nodded with a nervous smile. "You too, Tsuyu-san."

* * *

Tsuyu went home with a fluttering in her chest she couldn't quite place. She wasn't lying about Ochako being cute. But, maybe… maybe she shouldn't have said it out loud, after all.

Well, there wasn't much to do about it now. It happened, it was said. Done.

When she got home, she dropped her bag abruptly by the door and made her way to her bedroom.

She didn't close the bedroom door. Before forcefully landing on her bed, she pulled out the napkin with Ochako's number on it, and put it down on her pillow. She then grabbed her phone. Slowly but surely, double-checking each keypad entry, she entered Ochako's number into her contacts.

Should I text her?

She stared at her phone for what seemed an eternity. She bristled when she heard knocking at her doorway.

"Tsuyu, dear, come eat dinner," her mother said.

"Kero. Oh yeah." Tsuyu had completely forgotten about eating dinner. It just didn't occur to her. She didn't even feel hungry but she knew she had to eat, so she followed her mother to the dining room.

She mindlessly ate her dinner, still mulling over in her head the question of whether to send Ochako a message or not. She should.

She got up from the table and put her dishes in the sink, running them under the faucet for exactly a minute before turning the water off.

"Tsuyu, you really don't need to do that every night," her mother chuckled.

Tsuyu bluntly responded, "Yes I do," as she she shook her hands dry and left the kitchen, making her way back to her room.

She sat on her bed once more, staring at her phone. "Kero…" she sighed before pulling the phone close to her face as she typed out, "THIS IS TSUYU," sticking her tongue out as she pressed send.

She jumped when she got an immediate response from Ochako: "OH, HI! I WAS WONDERING WHEN YOU WERE GOING TO TEXT ME!"

Tsuyu blushed. "Kero. Kero…" Ochako was thinking about her? That was… nice.

"YEAH, I JUST WAS BUSY WITH DINNER AND STUFF."

"IT'S OKAY! NO WORRIES!"

Tsuyu smiled. Then a text from her friend Habuko arrived. "ANY DEVELOPMENTS, TSUYU-CHAN?"

Tsuyu's smile widened as she replied, "WE JUST EXCHANGED NUMBERS."

"GOOD!" Habuko's reply was quite enthusiastic.

Tsuyu nodded as she switched back to the conversation with Ochako. Texting was easier for the articulation of feelings.

Tsuyu had had a crush on Ochako since the beginning of school. She found out about Ochako's part-time job at the café she frequented and was pleased. It meant she could get closer without being creepy, something she tried not to come across as. Therefore, she knew better than to outright ask Ochako out at the café, despite her usual penchant for saying whatever happened to come to mind.

The nerves were intense. Tsuyu almost didn't want to go through with it because of the intensity of her anxiety. Her chest tightened, and she finally gulped. "Kero," and typed out, very slowly: "OCHAKO-SAN. LET'S GO ON A DATE."

She hoped this—admittedly somewhat impulsive—action on her feelings didn't bite her in the ass.

* * *

Ochako was stunned. She read the text over and over.

She didn't want to reject Tsuyu, but… goodness. Shouldn't they get to know each other better first before a… date?

Her inner critic shouted, "What do you think a date is?"

She found herself agreeing. True, a few dates with someone involved getting to know them better. So. Why not.

She bit her lip and sent a simple, "OKAY."

Ochako had to admit that Tsuyu was cute, so how could she say no? Maybe this wouldn't turn out badly.

"A date…" Ochako murmured. She glanced out her bedroom window and smiled. "Not a bad idea."


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Ochako woke up to a text from Tsuyu. "Already?" she wondered aloud as she grabbed her phone from the charger.

"GOOD MORNING." Tsuyu's text simply said.

Ochako smiled and texted back, "MORNING."

She didn't hear from her after that for some time, as she got dressed. She was leaning over her dresser applying some mascara when her text alert went off and she yelped as she narrowly avoided poking herself in the eye with the mascara wand. She put down the mascara when she was done, so that she could attend to her phone.

Tsuyu had asked, "WANT TO MEET UP AT SCHOOL AND GO TO CLASS TOGETHER?"

Ochako giggled. "SURE."

The night before, they hadn't said anything after that; no planning of the date or anything. So perhaps they would talk about it while on the way to class?

She went back to applying her daily light makeup—just some mascara, blush, and tinted balm was all she felt she needed for her days at school. She had other makeup, but saved it for special occasions. She glanced at this set of other makeup, and wondered if she should use it on the upcoming date.

She yelped as she realized what time it was, and she ran downstairs to grab her bag and the bagel her mother handed to her.

"Have a good day, dear!" her mother called out while Ochako put on her shoes.

"Will do! Thanks, mom!"

Ochako didn't live too far from school, so she wasn't _too_ worried about being late to class. She just wanted to make sure she had time to hang out with Tsuyu before then.

She found Tsuyu waiting by the gate and she ran up to her. "Morning, Tsuyu-san. Were you waiting long?"

" _Kero_ ," Tsuyu smiled. "Not long at all."

Ochako's heart skipped a beat seeing that cute smile. "That's good."

"You look cute today."

Ochako's reaction was to intensify the blush on her cheeks with a natural flush. "Ah, thanks. This is just my normal face."

"Still cute," Tsuyu had a light flush on her face as well.

 _She's so cute…_

"Sh-shall we?" Ochako indicated the school entrance. Tsuyu nodded, and they began to walk.

* * *

Homeroom was boring. Tsuyu had already caught up on all her work. It was too easy.

She was about to zone out when the classmate in front of her poked her hand with a note. Tsuyu raised her eyebrows as she took the note.

"What kind of date did you want? –Ochako" the note read.

Tsuyu's heart rate quickened as she ran through several ideas in her head before she wrote down, "How about the movies? –Tsuyu"

The movies; that was a good choice for a first date, right? Tsuyu knew better than to ask for a date to Disneyland for the first date, knowing about the urban legend that it was a curse on the couple's future. Tsuyu wanted to avoid a cursed future if possible.

The note was passed back to Ochako, and she saw Ochako smile and nod as she wrote something. Once more, there was a passing of the note.

"That sounds great! What movie?"

Tsuyu couldn't remember what movies were even showing currently. She stuck out her tongue as she wrote, "Whatever's showing that interests you. I don't remember what's what, honestly."

"What about _Your Name_?"

"Sure. :)"

"Great! What time?"

"Do you work today?"

"I don't."

Tsuyu took in a breath as she slowly wrote out, "How about today :)"

At that note, she saw Ochako's expression turn into one of surprise. Ochako looked in her direction. Tsuyu began to feel nervous. Was she out of line? Was she moving too fast?

Homeroom was almost over, so the note-passing had to be put on hold. Tsuyu hoped that Ochako would say yes.

* * *

Ochako was antsy as she waited for Tsuyu outside of the classroom when school ended.

Tsuyu really wanted to do the date today, huh? Ochako didn't know what to make of it, but she appreciated the gesture nonetheless.

 _Does that mean she likes me?_

Of course it did. It was quite flattering to know that someone liked her. Even more so when that someone was a cute girl, and Tsuyu was definitely a cutie in Ochako's book.

Ochako liked girls, and it wasn't anything to be ashamed of. It just never came up in conversation with anyone, so it also wasn't very common knowledge. Her parents were fine with it; there were other problems to attend to in life—their daughter being interested in girls was the least of them.

Tsuyu finally exited the classroom. " _Kero._ "

"Hey!" Ochako smiled widely. "Shall we… shall we go to the movies now?"

" _Kero_!" Tsuyu blushed and looked away. "We can… we can do that, yeah."

"You're the one who asked, silly!" Ochako giggled, finding Tsuyu's bashfulness endearing.

"Sh-shall we?" Tsuyu began walking in front of Ochako.

Ochako giggled again. "Lead the way, Tsuyu-san."

* * *

Thankfully, for an impromptu date at the movies, both girls had enough money to cover their tickets and also a small bucket of popcorn.

 _Your Name_ was supposedly the highest-grossing film in Japan currently. Tsuyu didn't care either way; she just wanted to be on a date with her crush.

They sat down in the middle of the theater, placing the bucket of popcorn between their seats.

The movie started and the lights went out.

As the movie progressed, Tsuyu felt herself becoming antsy from impatience. The plot was interesting, but the slow burn was getting to her. She began to mindlessly eat the popcorn to try and stay focused.

She gasped when she noticed that Ochako's hand had met with hers. They gazed at each other momentarily before quickly looking away and shifting their focus back to the movie.

Tsuyu couldn't help but keep her hand touching Ochako's. It felt nice and gave her a warm feeling that she didn't want to disappear too soon.

Suddenly the movie ended. Both girls stood up, and started to walk out of the aisle when Ochako stumbled and Tsuyu caught her.

They were close enough…

 _No. Not yet._ Tsuyu thought.

But now that they had closed the proximity between each other, Tsuyu couldn't get the idea of kissing Ochako out of her mind. She hoped for it to happen soon.

* * *

Eventually, they arrived at Ochako's place. There was an awkward—awkward to Ochako, at least—silence as they acknowledged each other's presence.

"So, um, that was a nice time we had?" Ochako began, her chest swelling when Tsuyu smiled. _It's too soon, isn't it,_ she wondered, but decided to dwell on it later.

"Yes, it was a nice time," Tsuyu said with a blush. "I really enjoyed it. The movie, eh, not so much."

"Oh, I quite enjoyed the movie. Moved me to tears," Ochako chuckled.

"I could tell," Tsuyu smirked.

"So, um. What's next?"

Tsuyu took in a deep breath. "I want another date."

Ochako blushed and she could swear she felt some form of whistling happening in her brain then and there. _IT'S TOO SOON FOR THESE FEELINGS!_

"Well. That can be arranged…" Ochako began before she noticed that Tsuyu was moving closer. "Ts-Tsuyu-san?"

"But before another date…" Tsuyu started, her face beginning to flush. "Can I…" she put her hands to her face. " _Kero, kero. Kero…_ "

Ochako understood and her face turned red as well. "Al-already?!"

"I want to kiss you, Ochako-san."

 _I knew it!_

But… Ochako didn't mind.

Tsuyu was considerably shorter than Ochako, so she had to bend down a bit to meet Tsuyu's gaze at eye level.

"Well. Here goes." Ochako breathed before leaning in to place her lips on Tsuyu's.

Ochako's heart began to race. She found herself not caring about the timing of all this.

Because she was kissing a very cute girl.

And she liked it.


End file.
